ReimaginED Melbourne 2026 has sold out ahead of the two-day conference, which will bring educators, school leaders, researchers and young people together at Woodleigh School’s Senior Campus in Langwarrin South this Friday and Saturday.
The 9–10 October event, hosted by Woodleigh School and the Woodleigh Institute, will explore how education can respond to emerging challenges including artificial intelligence, climate change, social cohesion and the changing needs of young people.
The conference is designed around dialogue and practical sessions, with young people positioned as contributors to discussions about the future of education.
Woodleigh School Principal David Baker said young people needed to be part of conversations about educational change.
“Young people are already living in the future we keep planning for. ReimaginED asks every adult in the room to listen to them, work alongside them and act, because the time for polite debate about whether education needs to change has passed.”Woodleigh School Principal David Baker
“Young people are already living in the future we keep planning for. ReimaginED asks every adult in the room to listen to them, work alongside them and act, because the time for polite debate about whether education needs to change has passed.”
The program brings together speakers working across education, systems change, design, sustainability and leadership.
Dr Otto Scharmer, Senior Lecturer at MIT Sloan School of Management and Founding Chair of the Presencing Institute, will open the Saturday program with a session on sensing and shaping emerging futures. Dr Scharmer is known for developing the Theory U approach to leadership and systems transformation and is the author of Theory U and Leading from the Emerging Future. His work focuses on how individuals and organisations can understand emerging change and respond to it.
Professor Chris Speed is Director of RMIT University’s Regenerative Futures Institute and Professor of Design for Regenerative Futures. He previously led the Edinburgh Futures Institute and held senior academic roles at the University of Edinburgh. At RMIT, his work brings together design, research and education to examine regenerative approaches to social, environmental and economic challenges.
Professor Speed will deliver The Price Provocation: The Living University, exploring how universities and other educational institutions might become more responsive to the communities and ecosystems they serve.
Dr Ginie Servant-Miklos, an education researcher based in the Netherlands, is an Assistant Professor at Erasmus University Rotterdam and co-founder of the Bildung Climate School. Her research focuses on pedagogy, identity and sustainability, while her book Pedagogies of Collapse: A Hopeful Education for the End of the World as We Know It examines education in the context of climate and social disruption.
Her ReimaginED session will examine the Bildung Climate School, where students from different educational pathways learn together through social and environmental challenges. Dr Servant-Miklos recently announced that the project received the 2026 Erasmus Education Prize.
Keren Caple, CEO of ThirdStory, brings extensive experience in education reform and systems change. Before ThirdStory, she co-founded and led Innovation Unit Australia New Zealand for almost a decade and spent five years as General Manager of the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, where she worked on the implementation of the Australian Teacher Standards, Principal Standard and a national school innovation partnership.
Ms Caple’s session, The system is not somewhere else, will consider what it takes to lead change within real communities and systems. Her work at ThirdStory currently spans education, health and social systems, including education reform and system transformation projects.
Nathalie Ryan, a Senior Educator at the National Gallery of Art in Washington and instructor with Harvard Project Zero, will explore the role of curiosity and inquiry in complex times. Her work includes developing learning programs for educators, young people and families, as well as research into awe, wellbeing, art and learning.
The conference’s four rounds of breakout sessions will examine issues including misogyny in school cultures, the environmental footprint of artificial intelligence, equitable education systems and approaches to re-engaging young people who have left school.
Other sessions will explore supporting neurodivergent adults in schools, creating systems that give teachers room to take risks, and regenerative education that positions students as contributors to the health of their communities and places.
Participants will also be able to visit Woodleigh School’s Year 10 Regenerative Futures Program, where students lead projects involving circular economy enterprises, environmental restoration and habitat projects.
Timorese singer-songwriter Ego Lemos will perform on Friday evening. The conference will conclude on Saturday afternoon, with participants encouraged to take ideas and connections developed during the event back into their schools and communities.
The Woodleigh Institute is an initiative of Woodleigh School focused on exploring emerging approaches to learning, leadership and education.
The Institute describes itself as a space for reflection, dialogue and deep learning around questions shaping the future of education. Its work has a particular interest in regenerative learning and building the capacity of young people to contribute to thriving people, places and environments.
The Woodleigh Institute is led by Dr Richard Owens, who has more than 30 years’ experience in teaching, school leadership and educational innovation. He is also the founder and convenor of ReimaginED and National Director of the Australian Center for Systems Awareness.
Woodleigh is a school where students experience life richly. Central to all teaching and learning at Woodleigh is challenge, and […]